Shuttle Endeavor Lands Home
By Ritika, Gaea News NetworkMonday, February 22, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (GaeaTimes.com)- After a very long journey and two very productive weeks, the space shuttle Endeavor landed home on Sunday at precisely 10.20 PM at the Kennedy Space Center. The people on- broad were Commander Colonel Zamka, flight engineer Colonel Virts, Stephen Robinson, Kathryn Hire, Nicholas Patrick and Lt. Colonel Robert Behnken.
The return of the shuttle Endeavor marked the 130th successful mission for the space shuttle fleet. Tranquility, the new space station to be installed by the shuttle will become the second residence for the station crew. In spite of the bad weather that could have disrupted the timely landing, the shuttle made it home perfectly on time and made a very rare night time comeback.
During the mission, the two spacewalkers on board the shuttle, conducted a trio of spacewalks. This has brought the total number of spacewalks upto 140. The landing of the shuttle was viewed by the space station residents who reportedly could not get enough of the sights.
After the landing of the Endeavor, there are still four more of shuttle missions to go on air. After that the shuttles will be ‘retired for the fall’. In this period, the American astronauts will have to go to and fro in the Russian capsules at a price of $50 million per seat. The net is flooded with the videos of the shuttle landing, being accessed by millions even as we write this. As soon as the commander radioed that the shuttle had landed, the Kennedy station radioed back welcoming them, and so did all the spectators present. The craft descended at an angle of 21 degrees, after completing the 5.7 million miles journey.